WINSLOW — What’s this, the swinging Winslow Black Raiders playing small ball?

All season, the Black Raiders offense relied on aggressiveness and power. But these are the playoffs, where runs are treated like gold. So rather than swing for the fences, the Black Raiders played station to station.

It worked. Winslow had three bunt singles and three sacrifice bunts, including one perfectly executed suicide squeeze. The result was a 9-4 win for over Oceanside of Rockland in an Eastern B preliminary game.

“A little adjustment for the postseason,” Winslow coach Jesse LaCasse said. “The guys took to it well. We’ve hit the ball hard all year, but going into the postseason, I knew we were going to have to make some adjustments against good teams. We’ve been working on it hard for weeks now.”

No. 6 Winslow (11-6) will take on No. 3 John Bapst (12-4) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Husson University in the quarterfinals. No. 11 Oceanside ends the season at 9-8.

“They have been a team that’s hit the ball hard, shot the gaps, and put together a lot of hits,” Oceanside coach Don Shields said. “That’s smart baseball in the playoffs. That’s winning baseball. That takes quality from the kids, to buy into that concept, when you’ve been a power hitting team.”

Winslow shortstop Dylan Hapworth: “We knew we were going to be facing their No. 1 pitcher. We came out and started bunting, and we haven’t bunted all year.”

The Black Raiders didn’t completely abandon their slugging ways. Hapworth, who hit four home runs in the regular season swinging a wood bat, hit a line drive over the left field fence on the first pitch he saw with a BBCOR bat, staking Winslow to a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

“I haven’t been hitting well with a wood bat lately. I’ve been in a slump,” said Hapworth, who added a sacrifice fly to center in the fourth inning and scored three runs. “I made the change, and I liked it.”

The Mariners got the two runs back in the top of the second inning, when Billy Joyce and J.T. Tobin each scored on a wild pitch. Winslow starter Donald Camp settled down after that, allowing just two more runs in the fourth inning. Camp gave up seven hits and one walk while striking out three.

“I went with Don today because he’s been solid for us all year. He doesn’t give in to anything,” LaCasse said. “You can get an error, you can give up some runs and hits, and it hasn’t seemed to faze him all season.”

Winslow scored at least one run in every inning. Trevor Lovely’s RBI single in the second inning gave the Black Raiders the lead for good. Winslow added two more runs in the third, two in the fourth, and one each in the fifth and sixth innings. Zach Guptil scored a pair of runs for Winslow.

A heavy rain shower hit Winslow in the middle innings, but the teams played through. Oceanside starter Dylan Maloney worked into the seventh inning, giving up seven hits and striking out four, but walking eight hitters, six of whom scored.

“I think Dylan’s walked, I think 20 kids all year. Conditions, strike zone (played a factor) a little bit,” Shields said. “Both guys had to pitch in the conditions. He did struggle to get on the same page with the home plate umpire.”

Billy Joyce had three hits for Oceanside, including a pair of doubles.

Hapworth made the defensive play of the game in the third inning, when he jumped to snag a Maloney line drive. Hapworth threw to first base to easily double off Drew Townsend, who was running on the pitch.

“I was just thinking, ‘Don’t get over my head.’ And it didn’t,” Hapworth said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

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